Bessie Smith - 1923 '1994

Tracks list

This document of Smiths first year in the studio reveals a blues giant in full
command of her talents. And while later dates -- especially the epochal 1925
sessions with Louis Armstrong -- offer more in the way of the eras horn-blowing
royalty, these early sides nicely showcase Smith in the unadorned company of a
variety of top pianists like Clarence Williams and Fletcher Henderson. The
Empress of the Blues flexes her vocal muscle throughout, ranging from Broadway
fare like Baby Wont You Please Come Home to the dark-hued rumblings of Graveyard
Dream Blues. She also revels in the provocative ambiguities of Nobody in Town
Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll and puts her stamp on the future blues warhorse
Taint Nobodys Bizness If I Do. From the opening strain of her first best-seller,
Downhearted Blues, until the end of the disc, lovers of classic female blues
will find plenty here to keep them enthralled.


Tracks:

 01. Down-Hearted Blues (3:28)
 02. Gulf Coast Blues (3:07)
 03. Aggravatin Papa (3:18)
 04. Beale Street Mama (3:35)
 05. Baby Wont You Please Come Home Blues (2:58)
 06. Oh Daddy (You Wont Have No Mama at All) (3:06)
 07. Taint Nobodys Biz-Ness If I Do (3:26)
 08. Keeps on A-Rainin (Papa He Cant Make No Time) (3:07)
 09. Mamas Got the Blues (2:58)
 10. Outside of That (3:30)
 11. Bleeding Hearted Blues (3:09)
 12. Lady Luck Blues (3:09)
 13. Yodling Blues (3:12)
 14. Midnight Blues (3:18)
 15. If You Dont I Know Who Will (3:35)
 16. Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine (3:31)
 17. Jail House Blues (3:16)
 18. St. Louis Gal (3:29)
 19. Sam Jones Blues (2:49)
 20. Graveyard Dream Blues (2:45)
 21. Cemetary Blues (3:30)
 22. Far Away Blues (3:00)
 23. Im Going Back to My Used to Be (2:52)

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